Vancouver - store to buy wine?

[rcprncss]

I am not familiar with Canada at all.  Where can we get wine to bring onboard before our cruise?  We are staying at the Residence Inn and there is a 7-11 across the street but looking for a grocery, liquor store or a discount store to buy wine.  Thank you.

[martincath]

Downtown Vancouver has no discounted booze stores (minimum pricing means some bars actually put their prices UP during Happy Hour!) and none in grocery stores (in theory it's now legal, but there are so many restrictions on how far they have to be from other liquor stores, schools etc. that IIRC there are just three sites in the entire city that could potentially sell liquor and they're all in the 'burbs) so you're looking at Provincial or Private liquor stores (which must buy all their booze through the provincial liquor distribution network so always end up being more expensive).

 

Unless you need some before you actually board, the simplest thing is to just get it near the pier - the BC Liquor Store at the Harbour Centre is very close by, so even if you take a cab to the pier and drop your bags you can walk over to buy wine and be back again in <30 minutes including buying time. The website linked shows products in-stock, accurate to within a few hours, and pricing (NB: 15% tax and a bottle deposit of 10cents on regular wine is added at the checkout).

 

In case you come back in the future - we operate booze on a provincial basis, same as how different US states have different booze laws, so what occurs here in BC can be quite different than in e.g. Quebec, where you can totes buy beer & wine in supermarkets and even corner stores before boarding a 'leaf peeping' cruise.

[rcprncss]

Martincath, thank you so much for all the details and the links and the map!  I feel clueless not knowing anything else but a US port.  We will be in Vancouver the morning before our cruise, so we will have a day there to see and do some things.  Hubby is also trying to find bourbon that we do not have at home!  🙂 Thank you for your help.

[martincath]

There's a lot of very good Canadian whiskey - personally I'm more into Rye than Corn whiskeys though. Since tastings are few and far between in liquor stores, tastes are subjective, and a bottle of liquor is relatively pricey here (high Sin Taxes!) I'd suggest hitting a good whiskey bar to sample a few and chat to bartenders so DH can find one he definitely likes before buying a bottle. Shebeen in Gastown probably still has the widest range (it's hidden in the back of the Irish Heather).

[rcprncss]

Thank you again for the recommendations!  🙂